1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproduction apparatus that allows the reproduction control for programs recorded on a large capacity record medium to be easily performed and to a reproduction method thereof, a reproduction program thereof, a record medium thereof, and a data structure thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
So far, an interactive function that displays a menu screen and sub menu screens for various settings and buttons (button images) on the menu screens for user's data inputs and that executes a selected function has been accomplished for sell packages that are packages of which video data and audio data such as a movie, a drama, a music concert, or the like is recorded on a record medium such as a DVD.
Now, Compact Disc-Digital Audio (CD-DA) that is a typical example of such cell packages will be described. One CD-DA generally contains a plurality of tracks of music data. Each track is assigned a number. When a normal reproduction is performed, music data are successively reproduced in the ascending order of track numbers. After music data with the largest track number have been reproduced, the reproduction is stopped.
In addition to the normal reproduction operation, which reproduces music data in the order of track numbers, many CD player models have other reproduction functions such as a random reproduction, a shuffle reproduction, and a disc repeat reproduction that reproduce music data in the order of other than track numbers. The random reproduction is a function that randomly selects a track of music data from those recorded on a disc and reproduces the selected track of music data after the completion of the reproduction of a particular track of music data. The shuffle reproduction is a function that reproduces music data recorded on the disc irrespective of the order of track numbers and stops the reproduction after the completion of the reproduction of all tracks of music data recorded on the disc. In the normal reproduction, the disc repeat reproduction repeats the normal reproduction from the beginning track of music data after the completion of the reproduction of the last track of music data. In the shuffle reproduction, the disc repeat reproduction changes the reproduction order of track numbers and reproduces the music data in the changed order.
In the CD-DA, the arrangement of music data is designated by only track numbers. Thus, it is clear that the beginning of a content is the beginning of music data with track number #1 and the end of the content is the end of music data with the largest track number.
On the other hand, there is a system that performs a reproduction control for contents of video data and audio data recorded on a record medium according to commands or programs recorded thereon. For example, a plurality of contents such as a main part of a movie, a preview, a movie making scene, a menu, and so forth are recorded on a DVD-video disc. When the contents are reproduced from the disc, their reproductions are controlled according to the commands and programs. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that performs a reproduction control for contents according to such commands and programs.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-304767